The first EU-Russia Innovation Forum was held in Lappeenranta, Finland on May 25th -27th 2010. The event, whose attendees included the Prime Ministers of Russia and Finland, featured a keynote presentation on the role of commercialisation in innovation from Spinverse CEO Pekka Koponen.

Mr Koponen used the keynote address to introduce the challenges of commercialising emerging technologies, referring to Spinverse’s extensive work with innovative growth companies, global industrial leaders, and the world’s leading universities. The presentation argued that turning an invention into a business requires a big leap in knowledge capital (people), social capital (partnerships) and financial capital.

The Forum saw the announcement of seven specific initiatives for innovation and modernization collaboration between the EU and Russia, which were presented to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.

On the same day, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd (Teollisuussijoitus) and the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) also signed an agreement on a Finno-Russian nanotechnology investment programme which aims to co-invest a total of 50 million Euros.